The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of learning activities based on argumentation about “Force and Motion” unit on conceptual understanding and views about establishing thinking friendly classroom environment of 7th graders. The study was conducted with total 39 students (20 students in experimental group and 19 students in control group) in a secondary school. The experimental group received learning activities based on argumentation while the control group received regular science learning depending on the current science curriculum for over five week period. Both groups were given Force and Motion Concept Test and Thinking Friendly Classroom Scale before and after the instruction. Besides, six students from the experimental group were interviewed after the instruction about conceptual understanding and thinking friendly classroom features by a form developed by the researchers. The results showed that there isn’t a significant difference between conceptual understandings of experimental and control group students. Besides, it was found that there is a significant difference between thinking friendly classroom scale of experimental and control group students in favor of experimental group. Moreover, the results of the interviews conducted with six of experimental group indicated that they feel themselves in thinking friendly classrooms and with a fine conceptual understandings are fine although they have some misconceptions.

This study aims to review the impact of the interactive story reading method on 48-72 month children’s vocabulary based on receptive and expressive language. The study group is 52 children in the 48-72 months age group at the nurseries of primary schools at Ankara province. The research employed a combined pattern analyzing both quantitative and qualitative data. The data were collected via "General Information Form" ,"Expressive and Receptive Language Test in Turkish (TIFALDI)" developed under the leadership of Gul Guven and Berument The "Teacher Observation Form", the "Teacher Interview Form" and the "Family Interview Form". In conclusion of the study, a significant difference in favor of the experiment group in the posttest was observed with respect to average posttest scores of experiment and control groups, following the implementation of the Interactive Story Reading Program. The comparison of the follow-up test and pretest score averages revealed a significantly high value in favor of the total for the follow-up test for the children in the experiment group. The agreement among the forms filled out by two observers with reference to the results of the observation and video analysis regarding the implementation of the "Interactive Story Reading Method" by the teachers, was assessed to be good/very good agreement. In the light of these results it can be said that the interactive story reading method have a fundamental impact on receptive and expressive vocabulary knowledge of 48-72 months old children.

This study aims to present the design and pilot testing procedures of the two specific self-report questionnaires were used to measure the two key aspects of reading motivation, self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation in the field of literary (narrative) reading, and the partial factors that jointly shape them. These instruments were outlined in advance, tested on a small scale and finally administered in a pre-post (quasi)experimental-control group research study, in order to investigate the effect of an intervention reading program to 6 graders. The measurement tools have good validity and reliability evidence, but further construct validity analysis should be done.

The purpose of this study was to develop a scale for assessing teachers’ self-determination instruction and to test the validity and reliability of this tool. The subjects included 315 teachers recruited from elementary and junior high schools nationwide in Taiwan. The Teaching Self-Determination Scale (TSDS) developed in this study aimed at assessing the extent to which educators teach students knowledge and skills related to self-determination. The 24-item TSDS is comprised of four subscales including Self-Realization, Psychological Empowerment, Self-Regulation, and Autonomy. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analyses, t tests, and factor analyses. Findings showed that the TSDS has satisfactory psychometric properties. The internal consistency reliability coefficients (Cronbach’s α) ranged from .76 to .93, while the test-retest coefficients ranged from .71 to .87. Findings of the exploratory factor analysis showed that the four TSDS subscale factors can be reasonably extracted, which can explain 59.7% of the total item variance. The confirmatory factor analysis results further indicated a good fit between the measurement model and the sample data (GFI = .96, AGFI = .91, RMSEA = .08, NFI = .97, RFI = .93, IFI = .98, TLI = .95, CFI = .98). Suggestions are provided for future research.

Mathematics educators have reported on many issues regarding students’ mathematical education, particularly students who received mathematics education at different departments such as engineering, science or primary school, including their difficulties with mathematical concepts, their understanding of and preferences for mathematical concepts. This study aimed to investigate the opinions of primary-school teacher education students in terms of their perceptions of difficulty level of the mathematics courses, change in their achievement, if there is any, and interest in mathematics after completing these courses, and factors affecting their achievement and interest level in these courses. Being qualitative in nature, this study was a case study. The data were analyzed using the content analysis and descriptive methods. According to the results, most students stated that they faced mathematics course content with unexpected level of difficulty. After taking basic mathematics courses, the percentage of students with decreased level of interest and achievement in mathematics was found higher than the students who experienced an increase in their interest and achievement. Students underlined such significant factors for the change of their interest and achievement in mathematics as prior knowledge, lecturer(s), and content coverage. Finally, most of the students viewed mathematics courses as a beneficiary tool for their professional development.

Anxiety that students experience during test taking negatively influences their academic achievement. Understanding how students perceive tests and how they feel during test taking could help in taking effective preventive measures. Hence, the current study focused on assessing children’s perceptions of tests using content analysis. The sample consisted of 1143 participants (566 females and 570 males) attending 3rd (n = 320), 4th (n = 420), 5th (n = 197), and 6th (n = 206) grade classes in three public schools in Istanbul, Turkey. The findings indicated that three main domains emerged from the data. The domains and the categories under each domain were as follows: evaluation (grades, success vs. failure, learning and development, and intelligence), emotions (excitement, fear and anxiety, happiness, curiosity, mixed feelings, and disappointment), and experiential process (answering questions, studying, difficulty, thinking, having fun, cheating vs. honesty, and silence). Understanding students’ experiences with testing early on in their education will give researchers and practitioners the chance to plan effective applications for treatment and prevention, which would influence students’ future achievement and experiences. The study findings could also help teachers and school counselors plan more effective teaching and counseling programs that take into account students’ anxiety levels during tests.

In this study, in-class lesson observations were made with volunteer teachers working in primary and secondary schools using alternative observation tools regarding the scope of contemporary educational supervision. The study took place during the fall and spring semesters of the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 academic years and the class observations were made with six alternative volunteer teachers in the primary and secondary schools in the provincial and district centers using alternative observation tools. In the classroom observations, the teacher's verbal flow scheme, teacher's movement scheme and student behaviors both during tasks and not, were analyzed. Observations were made during the two classes with teacher's permission. After the first observation, an information meeting was held and then the second observation was made. Following the observations, interviews were held with the teachers. In interviews, the information about the class observations was shared with teachers and their opinions about research were asked. It has been found that alternative observations, in general, have a positive effect on the professional development of teachers. It is concluded that this type of observation approach positively affects teachers' in-class activities, helps in classroom management and teaching arrangements and positively affects student's unwanted behaviors.

This study investigated prospective mathematics teachers’ reflections on the experience of designing and conducting one-to-one clinical interviews with middle school students in the context of an elective course on use of video in teacher learning. Prospective teachers were asked to write about weaknesses and strengths in student understanding as well as their own performance as an interviewer in terms of asking questions and responding to student thinking in their reflections on conducting clinical interviews. Furthermore, prospective teachers were also asked to reflect on what they would do differently in order to conduct better clinical interviews.  Nature of prospective teachers’ reflections were analyzed by using existing frameworks (through constructs of reflection-on-action and reflection-for-action) and by using thematic analysis. Results of data analyses revealed that prospective teachers had more difficulties in providing meaningful reflection-for-action which was related to alternative decisions and planning for future similar interviews. Thematic analysis results revealed prospective teachers’ learning were grouped under three categories: conducting clinical interviews as part of being a teacher, complexity of conducting clinical interviews, and personal theories about middle school students. There are implications for both teacher learning and research.

The aim of this study is to determine the problem solving skills and science process skills of six year-old children who attended kindergarten and whether or not there is a difference in problem solving skills and science process skills of children receiving and not receiving the education with GEMS program. In the study using the experimental model with pre-test, post-test and control group, the sample group consisted of a total of 25 children including 11 children in experimental group and 14 children in control group who attended the preschool education. The “GEMS Program” was applied throughout a school year after applying pre-test to the children in the experimental group. In the scope of the study, “General Information Form” to obtain the data about the children and their families, “Parental Evaluation Form” including the evaluation of the parents about their children, “Problem Solving Scale in Science Education (PSSSE)” to determine the problem solving skills of the children and “Science Processes Observation Form (SPOF)” to measure the science process skills of the children were used. According to the results of the study, while a statistically significant difference was observed between the Problem Solving Scale in Science Education mean scores of the children in the experimental group who participated in the GEMS Education Program and of the children in control group, no statistically significant difference was observed between the mean scores obtained by the children in the experimental group from Science Processes Observation Form and the mean scores of the children in the control group.

The purpose of the study is to reveal the effect of cooperative learning on language skills in an English course. The study was carried out for 5 weeks with 66 students studying at the 10th grade at an Anatolian high school in the district of Karadeniz Eregli in Zonguldak during the fall term of the 2015-2016 academic year. The design of the study was ‘nonequivalent control groups pre-test post-test’ which is one of quasi-experimental designs. Data were gathered using an achievement test measuring students’ vocabulary knowledge, grammar knowledge, reading comprehension and listening skills. Results showed that cooperative learning had a larger effect on vocabulary knowledge, grammar, listening and reading skills compared to traditional method.

The aim of this study is to explain and predict prospective preschool teachers’ academic achievements depending on goal orientations they adopt, their critical thinking dispositions and self-regulation skills. Research sample constitutes of 265 prospective preschool teachers attending the Faculty of Educational Sciences in Cukurova University. Research data were collected with the 2x2Achievement Goal Orientations Scale, Self-Regulation Questionnaire and Critical Thinking Disposition Scale. Demographical information about prospective teachers’ gender, age, grade level and academic grade point averages were obtained with the personal information form. For the analysis of research data, One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and discriminant analysis were used. In this study; it was concluded that prospective teachers with high level of learning approach orientation, critical thinking disposition and self-regulation skills had higher levels of academic achievement. However, it was determined that distinguishing variables among prospective preschool teachers with low, medium and high level of academic achievement included learning approach, performance approach goal orientation and critical thinking disposition and self-regulation skills. Correct classification percentage of distinguishing variables according to prospective preschool teachers’ levels of academic achievement was determined as 48.8%. Considering the fact that prospective teachers’ achievement-goal orientations, critical thinking dispositions and self-regulation skills may increase their academic achievement and shape their future teaching performances, it is suggested to implement programs that will contribute to the development of such skills and orientations among prospective preschool teachers.

The aim of sports and physical effect on the course chosen and the selection (choosing different courses) students to determine the difference between the levels of social skills. Research, Sports and Physical Activities are important in determining the contribution of the social skills of course. Research elective sports and physical activities screening to determine their level of social skills among students taking the course and take the 11-14 age model is designed. The population of the 2015- 2016 academic year in the fall semester research, Malatya affiliated school in sports and physical activities constitute 11-14 age students choose the courses. Elective sports and physical activity as a data collection tool for taking the course and receive a questionnaire for students to determine their level of social skills are used. The survey consists of a personal information form and social skills inventory to determine the defining characteristics of the students in the first chapter. In the evaluation of the data obtained as a number descriptive statistical methods, percentage, mean, standard deviation is used. in comparing quantitative data between two independent groups of continuous man-Whitney U test for continuous quantitative comparison of data between more than two independent groups Kruskal wallis test. Kruskal wallis complementary test to determine differences in man-to-Whitney test after test. Research results in emotional expressivity, sensitivity, social expressivity, social sensitivity, social control, social skills and physical effect on the total level of the sport was concluded to be higher in the group selects the course.

The aim of this study is to investigate the empathic tendency levels of physical education teacher candidates according to some variables. Study group consists of 117 pre service physical education and sports students (74 women and 43 men) of Kafkas University in the fall semester of 2015/2016 academic year. “Personal Information Form” and the "Empathic Tendency Scale" which developed by Dokmen was used to collect data. In the evaluation of data, firstly, normality hypothesis and Shapiro Wilk and Levene tests for homogeneity of variances have been used. In paired comparisons, independent samples t-test and in comparison of more than one group, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey multiple comparison test have been used. SPSS 21 statistical package program was used and the results were considered significant at p <0.05 level. As a result of the study, it can be said that gender, age, class, place of education, parent education level and family monthly income variables did not affect the empathic tendency levels of the physical education teacher candidates.

This study was designed as a case study. Participants were 12 senior pre-service science teachers (PSTs), who took theoretical and practical courses about STEM education and socio-scientific issues (SSIs) during their education at a state university. For the study, in the first 4 weeks, theoretical courses on SSIs and STEM education were carried out. Afterwards, PSTs were asked to choose a SSI and configure this issue as a problem statement to perform a STEM activity. Participants were given a total of 3 weeks to determine the issue and prepare the STEM activity, and the researchers of the study gave systematic feedback during this period. Then, starting from the fifth week of the study, groups started to implement their STEM activities in the class, where their peers were assigned as their students. The activity plans they prepare, the field notes taken by the researchers during the implementation of the activities and the semi-structured interviews about the opinions of the PSTs on the use of SSI in STEM education were the data sources of the study. Findings revealed that PSTs found establishing STEM problem situations over SSIs suitable since they provide features such as conformity to real life, having multiple criteria and providing compatibility with other disciplines. Moreover, after their practices, they pointed out that the activities enabled both the teaching of the SSI and the integrated teaching to be carried out. As a conclusion, it is recommended to use socio-scientific problem situations to perform STEM education.

This paper aims to test the reliability and validity of the Turkish adaptation of DeBaryshe and Binder's Parent Reading Belief Inventory (PRBI) and to investigate parents' literacy beliefs. The primary focus of this paper is to explore parents’ beliefs and practices and their relatedness on the emergent literacy of their children aged 3–7 (M=69.8 months; SD= 9.33 months). As data collection tools, we availed ourselves of the Parent Reading Belief Inventory,(PRBI), Home Literacy Inventory (HLI) and Child Literacy Behaviours (CLB). In addition, the Personal Information Form, prepared by the researchers, was utilized. Moreover, confirmatory factor analyses were performed on samples of parents from Adana, a city in southern Turkey (N= 952). The study showed that a seven-factor structure in the original form of the PRBI was validated , excluding items 8, 30 and 31. Consistent with the results of the confirmatory factor analysis and reliability analysis, it can be concluded that the PRBI is a valid and reliable tool to investigate the process of parents' literacy activities with their children in Turkey.

The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation and predictive relationship between self-determination and quality of life of college students with disabilities. Subjects were 145 senior college students recruited from northern Taiwan. Subjects' age ranged from 22 to 25 years and their disabilities varied, including visual impairments (n = 16), hearing impairments (n = 17), speech/language impairment (n = 6), physical disabilities (n = 40), specific learning disability (n = 26), emotional and behavior disorders (n = 5), multiple disabilities (n = 4), autism (n = 23), and health impairments (n = 8). Two measures, the Self-Determination Scale for College Students (SDSCS) and WHOQOL-BREF were used to collect data. The subjects completed the SDSCS in their senior year of college, whereas the WHOQOL-BREF data were collected one year after their graduation. The Pearson correlation and stepwise multiple regression analyses were used to assess the correlation between the SDSCS and the WHOQOL-BREF. Results showed that positive correlations were found between self-determination and quality of life. Subjects’ scores on the SDSCS subscales (Self-Realization, Psychological Empowerment, Autonomy) were able to explain between 30.3%-53.2% of the total variance of their scores on the WHOQOL-BREF domains (Psychological, Social Relationships, Environment). The results of this study re-confirmed the positive correlation between self-determination and quality of life of individuals with disabilities. Furthermore, the study highlighted that self-determination not only has an immediate impact on quality of life for people with disabilities, but it seems to have a long-lasting effect. Suggestions and implications are provided.

In this study, it is aimed to examine the mathematical conceptual skills of 48-72-month-old children attending pre-school education institutions providing a Montessori Approach and Ministry of National Education Pre-school Program (MoNE PSP). The study group consisted of 20 children, who were trained by the Montessori Approach, and 20 children, who continued to attend pre-school education institutions applying the MoNE PSP. The research was carried out in accordance with the state study design of the qualitative research methods, and the data of the study was collected by the structured observation method at the free play/individual work time in the learning centers of the children constituting the study group. A structured observation form was used as the data gathering tool, and mathematical concept skills such as counting, matching, grouping, comparison, positioning, measurement, pattern, part-whole, transactions and creating a graphic were included.  Research data were analyzed with descriptive analysis method, and the frequency and percentage values of the obtained data were calculated. As a result of the study, it was observed that the students trained with the Montessori Approach and MoNE PSP could not create graphics in both groups, while the rhythmic counting and patterning skills were the most observed skills in children. It has been determined that children trained with the Montessori Approach perform more studies, especially on matching, grouping, comparison/ranking, and part-whole skills, compared to the children trained with MoNE PSP. In the light of the results obtained in this research, it is suggested that the play materials that had to be in classes where MoNE PSP was applied should be standardized, and children should be able to get through these materials; also mathematics center should be established in the class level.

In this research, After I have realized some technological applications in the course of general physics laboratory II of the science teacher program, this research aims to examine the effects of the students' attitudes towards technology and the information of the communication technology (ICT) with the mixed method. For this application, after the introduction of Arduino was done, it was used as a measuring instrument in the laboratory; it also used the Fritzing program for circuit diagrams and the e-support system for sending poster studies. The research was carried out with the 50 first-year students of the department of science education at Kocaeli University. In this study, the attitude scales toward technology and ICT were used to collect the quantitative data, and a semi-structured interview form was used to collect the qualitative data. For the quantitative analyses in the study, “t-Test for Dependent Groups” and “A Two-Way ANOVA was used for Complex Measurements”, for the qualitative analyses, “Descriptive Analysis” was used. The two analyses were combined according to the mixed method research model and interpreted. The results of the research showed that technological applications in the physics of the laboratory such as using arduino, fritzing program, and poster studies have a significant effect on the attitudes of students in the study group toward technology and ICT, and it was supported by the qualitative research.

Literacy has been defined in the literature frequently. Each new interpretation leads to the idea that the definition can change based on the relevant environment, instruments used and/or the intended objective and there might be different types of literacy including computer literacy, media literacy and visual literacy (Reinking, McKenna, Labbo and Kieffer, 1997; Tuman, 1994). This is also true for computer literacy and mathematical literacy. Therefore, there is a need for studies on computer and mathematical literacy. The objective of the present study was to determine the computer and mathematical literacy levels of secondary school 6th grade students and to reveal the correlation between computer and mathematical literacy levels. The study sample included students that attended provincial, district and village schools, as well as the private schools. The correlation between the computer and mathematical literacy levels of the students that were selected from various regions was determined and the differences based on these levels among the schools were also identified. Since the study aimed to determine the correlation between computer literacy and mathematics literacy of the 6th grade students, relational screening model was utilized in the study. Relational (correlative) studies aim to determine whether there is a correlation between two or more variables (Karasar, 2009). Study population included 139 6th grade students attending a secondary school in Turkey. In the study, “Mathematics Literacy Scale” and “Computer Literacy Scale,” which were developed by the author and tested for validity and reliability were used. The obtained data were analyzed by specific statistical techniques. After the findings were analyzed, results were discussed based on the findings in the literature and necessary recommendations were presented.

This research study aims to evaluate the graduate theses and articles conducted on the concept of instructional leadership over the period between 2002 and 2017 in Turkey by means of methodological and statistical analysis techniques. In the study, which is configured by using the case study design as one of the qualitative research methods, the related theses are obtained from the database of the Council of Higher Education Thesis Center in Turkey, whereas the related articles are provided through article archives of the National Academic Network and Google Scholar website. The data collected via the academic publication evaluation form are evaluated by frequency analysis using. In the study, 104 postgraduate theses and 35 articles on instructional leadership are conducted, many of which using scales as data collection tools. Lack of due diligence in validity and reliability studies, selection of mostly teachers for sampling, and usage of descriptive t-test and one-way ANOVA techniques in data analyses are detected. As a result, it is shown that similar studies using similar datasets and the same data collection tools have been carried out on instructional leadership. Mixed research and scale development studies in which qualitative and quantitative methods can be used collocation.